Redesign of the timing output T1 assembly: Surface mount technology placement machine optimization

This report documents work done in the improvement of the component placement operation for an electronic assembly, whose printed circuit board was redesigned from Through Hole Technology to Surface Mount Technology. The objective was to assure the feasibility of the redesigned product. A cost analysis was performed that demonstrated the need for assuring a certain performance level in the SMT component placement operation. An improvement algorithm for the placement operation was selected, adapted, developed and implemented. The algorithm was implemented by means of a computer application developed using Turbo Pascal{dollar}spcircler{dollar} programming language. With this tool an effective feeder setup was determined and a feasible placement sequence for the redesigned Timing Output T1 Assembly board was found. The results obtained from the algorithm's application demonstrated that the feeder setup is the most critical component when minimizing the total placement time.